Officials Address ‘Misinformation’ Around Recreation

ORLEANS – Town officials last week pushed back against rumors and misinformation they said have been surrounding the future direction of the town’s recreation program, as well as the circumstances around the status of its recreation director.

Conversation has been ongoing between staff in Orleans and Brewster in recent weeks about potentially regionalizing recreation programming between the two towns. The select board on Aug. 26 voiced support for further exploring a pilot program to see how those regionalization efforts might work.

The talk of regionalization comes on the heels of news that Tom DeSiervo is leaving his full-time post as Orleans’ director of recreation, culture and community events. DeSiervo told the town’s recreation advisory committee Aug. 20 that he is leaving his full-time position to address a health issue with a member of his family. He will remain employed by the town on a part-time basis. 

But DeSiervo and Town Manager Kim Newman on Aug. 26 addressed misinformation they said had been surrounding the regionalization talks in the aftermath of the recreation meeting. That includes a text message sent by a town employee at the request of the recreation committee chair geared toward encouraging turnout at the select board meeting, where regionalization was discussed in more detail.

According to emails obtained by The Chronicle, the text alleged that the town has “no confidence in existing staff” to continue running Orleans recreation under a new director. It was also alleged that the decision to explore regionalization was driven by a sense of panic over DeSiervo’s departure.

That text was written by Brendan Guttmann, the town’s former recreation director and a current staffer, to a group of volunteer coaches in the recreation department. He said he was asked by recreation advisory chair Jamie Balliett to “rally the troops and have people reach out to the select board” ahead of the board’s Aug. 26 meeting.

“All the trust and goodwill we have built through professionalism, thrown away just to bring us back to where we were three years ago,” Newman wrote in an email to Balliett and Guttmann. “Who does creating that panic serve? Certainly not the parents and users of the programs.”

Guttmann told Newman his message to coaches was informed by a sense of “shock” upon learning of DeSiervo’s departure as director and the town’s exploration of regionalizing.

“In retrospect, not knowing all that is involved in all this planning I should have held back on some of my comments. It just seemed that things were moving pretty quickly,” he wrote.

The emails also include one from a resident who suggested that the town has been “left hanging out to dry” by DeSiervo’s departure as director.

“Anyone who has worked closely with me over the last three years knows how deeply I care about this department and community,” DeSiervo said. “I would never intentionally leave the town or our staff and residents in the lurch.” He said that existing staff and programming is being supported, and that there will be a “thoughtful transition” into whatever direction recreation takes moving forward.

Balliett said Tuesday that he has apologized to both Newman and DeSiervo for reaching out to Guttmann, but pushed back against assertions that his actions caused any sort of panic.

“There’s nothing that I did that throws anyone under the bus,” he said. “I made statements only to oppose the regionalization plan. Nothing I stated created a panic whatsoever. I made no statements saying anything bad about Tom. Tom has gotten nothing but praise from me.”

DeSiervo thanked the Orleans community, as well as Newman, Assistant Town Manager Mark Reil and the select board, for allowing him the opportunity to help rebuild the recreation department when he was hired in November 2023.

“We had an opportunity to essentially build a department from the ground up, to establish trust, create new programs, rebuild relationships with families, strengthen our staff and rethink what municipal recreation could look like in Orleans,” he said.

Select Board Chair Mefford Runyon said he believes a lot of the concern and rumors circulating have been rooted in a “sense of loss” in the community over DeSiervo’s departure as director.

“I would just add Tom, at least from my perspective, you came into Orleans and kind of led us out of the wilderness and brought us down the road to the promised land,” he said.

A tentative proposal calls for both Brewster and Orleans to each retain their two full-time and part-time recreation employees, who would be overseen by a regional recreation director and assistant regional director. The proposal also calls for the creation of an office administrator position in Orleans to handle matters such as payroll and program registration. 

That administrative position would cost between $15,000 and $70,000, depending on if the position is part- or full-time. Apart from that, Newman said there would be no budgetary impact for recreation in either town.

“The reality is we could not touch the budget at all, leave the rec budget in place as-is, no change, and still explore this,” she said.

Tracy Murphy of the recreation advisory committee asked how program fees would be impacted in Orleans through regionalization, noting that Orleans has historically charged less for its offerings than Brewster. DeSiervo said that each town would charge based on the amount of children participating in a program from their community.

DeSiervo also noted that shared programming already exists in some form between the two towns. Some youth soccer programs, for example, welcome Orleans children to participate in Brewster due to the low number of participants in Orleans.

“If they have less than we do, they would come to us,” he said.

DeSiervo also stressed that both Orleans and Brewster have funds and scholarship money in place to ensure that no child is unable to participate in programming due to cost.

But concerns were raised about losing the momentum that’s been gained in recreation in recent years. Sharon Basso, who has served on the recreation committee since 2019, recalled the struggles town recreation had under previous directors prior to DeSiervo’s tenure, and worried that programming could backslide under a regionalized plan. 

During the Brewster select board’s Aug. 10 discussion of regionalization, the town’s recreation director, Mike Gradone, stressed that Brewster recreation would continue to be his top priority.

“We are well aware of what it can be like to have a non-dedicated rec director who isn’t making connections or building relationships within our own community,” Basso said.

Balliett argued for an interim recreation director to be hired, and said any plan to regionalize services with Brewster needs “to be thoroughly discussed with the public brought in.”

“Orleans has made impressive strides in the last few years, adding staff and programming to provide a true community anchor for our little town,” he said.

Orleans resident Emily Miller called the proposal as outlined in the packet for the select board’s meeting “vague” and “hasty.”

“If both towns could benefit from a regional program, then by all means, let’s apply for a grant, commission a study and hash out a plan while keeping our department intact and in Orleans in the meantime,” she said.

Speaking after the Aug. 26 meeting, Newman expressed frustration with how conversation about any potential regionalization unfolded without the opportunity for staff to discuss how it might work.

“I’m pretty disappointed in the lack of trust and support and the skepticism after all of the positive momentum and partnership we’ve built together,” she said.

But select board members last week were clear in their support for staff continuing to explore a pilot with Brewster.

“Change is emotional,” Kevin Galligan said. “Change brings up so many fears and worries. But again, I have confidence that we are going to provide the best services and continue to grow this program.”

Mark Mathison of the select board reiterated that no decisions have been made yet on regionalization, nor will any “be made in haste.” But he said any successful effort toward regionalizing services will require buy-in from both towns.

“There’s been some allusion today and stuff going around that the Brewster director would take over everything and Orleans was going to be the redheaded stepchild here on this whole thing,” he said. “That’s not where this is going to go, and I think anybody who’s going to run this program, if it comes to that, would have to be town-neutral.”

Mathison also pointed to Nauset Beach, which the town co-manages with Chatham, as an example of a shared management model that has worked for the town.

“I have no doubt that we can do the same kind of thing with recreation, where we respect everybody’s needs, wants and abilities,” he said. “It’ll take time to get there.”

With the support of select boards in both towns, Newman said that a meeting was to be held this week between the town managers and recreation directors in both towns about how to proceed. Balliett on Tuesday said he hopes Newman will attend the advisory committee’s next meeting on Sept. 17 to talk further about the town’s plans for recreation.

“We think that the rec committee has had an extraordinarily positive relationship with town leadership over the last couple of years, including [with] funding for the Eldredge Park renovation and planning for the actual project itself,” he said. “So we just want to partner with town leadership again once whatever plan is developed.”

As for DeSiervo, Runyon said in jest that he’s holding out some hope that he might be able to return to town again on a full-time basis at some point in the future.

“You are always welcome here,” Newman said to DeSiervo.